29 p. : 26 cm

Newly discovered specimens of alagomyids, mostly isolated teeth collected by screenwashing at the Gashatan (late Paleocene) Subeng locality in Inner Mongolia, document considerable intraspecific variation in Tribosphenomys minutus that has not been appreciated previously because of limited sample sizes. P4s of Tribosphenomys are described for the first time, which helps to clarify the posterior premolar identification of alagomyids. Some of the alagomyid specimens are referred to Tribosphenomys cf. T. secundus and Neimengomys qii gen. and sp. nov. Based on the new data, Tribosphenomys borealis from the Bumban Member of the Naran Bulak Formation, Mongolia, is considered to be a junior synonym of Alagomys inopinatus, and T. tertius from the Zhigden Member of the Naran Bulak Formation is regarded as a junior synonymof T. minutus. Alagomyidae, consisting of Tribosphenomys, Alagomys and Neimengomys, is maintained as a valid family. The presence of a diversity of alagomyids and other recently obtained fossils and stratigraphic evidence from the Erlian Basin suggest that the Gashatan and Bumbanian of Asia are probably correlative to the late Tiffanian-early Wasachian of North America. The faunal turnover during the Gashatan and Bumbanian in Asia is probably related to the late Paleocene-early Eocene global warming, but current evidence is insufficient to link any specific event with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Title from caption

"December 12, 2007."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 26-29)

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